Deal clears way for return of Rampage, AFL

Grand Rapids Press File PhotoRampage fullback Whitney Bell celebrates a touchdown in 2008. A new agreement with players could make every AFL player a free agent in mid-May.

GRAND RAPIDS -- The Arena Football League announced Monday it has agreed to terms with the AFL Players Association on a new four-year collective bargaining agreement, clearing a major hurdle toward relaunching the league in 2010.

The players still must rubber-stamp the agreement.

"Everything is pretty much a done deal," said Grand Rapids Rampage placekicker Brian Gowins, the team's alternate union player representative. "The players just have to sign off on it. There's still a lot of i's to be dotted and t's to be crossed.

"For all intents and purposes, the league is back."

Ed Policy, acting AFL commissioner, told The Press he expects raitification of the labor agreement by the players and final approval of the league's board of directors to occur within the next month, provided all goes well.

"April 1 is the target date, but it might take a couple of weeks longer," Policy said. "I want to put the league in the best position to come back as strongly as possible. I'd say we're close, but a lot of heavy lifting is still left to be done. The deal with the players is a tremendous step forward.

"I think, within a matter of weeks, I'm fairly optimistic we can get these things accomplished and be able to announce a relaunch, but we're not there yet."

The AFL canceled its 2009 season due to deep financial losses.

The owners of the 16-team league met in Chicago last month and agreed on parameters for a new labor agreement, which calls for a reduced salary cap and healthcare benefits for players, according to multiple league sources.

Highlights of the agreement:

• Team rosters will shrink from 24 to 20 players.

• The salary cap will shrink from $2.2 million per team to approximately $1.1 million in 2010, although additional forms of compensation beyond salaries, bonuses and incentives are being negotiated.

"I have heard the roster size will be reduced and there will be two-way players," Gowins said.

• Health and insurance benefits are being reduced.

• The minimum base salary for players would shrink from $28,800 in 2008 to approximately $20,000 next year, a league source said.

• All players become free agents in mid-May, while teams could begin signing players June 1, according to the Dallas Morning News' Web site.

"That's one of the possible scenarios," Gowins confirmed.

The restructuring plan is not dependent upon the AFL selling management control of the league to an outside investment group, Policy said.

"It's not dependent at all on outside capital," he said.

Instead, the league plans to operate with a "centralized business model," where there would be a coordinated management of all remaining teams.

It is unknown if all 16 teams plan to return.

The Rampage, coming off a trip to the 2008 American Conference finals, are expected to be part of the relaunch. Team owner Dan DeVos has pledged his support of the league and maintaining an indoor football team in Grand Rapids.

"It's a positive sign for all of us," Rampage COO Scott Gorsline said. "I think without the deal with the players, there wouldn't be any hope of the league coming back. It's the key piece of the whole process. It's very encouraging that we've reached this point."